Tales from The Trade! - Star Trek: Godshock

During a trip to Nashville back in 2023, I decided to stop by my old comic stomping grounds, The Great Escape, off of Charlette Ave. Even though my comic buying has gone down in the last couple years, I still try to make time for the hobby. Making time to read said comics is another thing altogether. Anyway, I was perusing some of the new stuff, and a recent Star Trek trade popped out to me. The hardcover had a few Trek characters, most notably, Captain Benjamin LaFayette Sisko. You know I had to get this, man!!!

At the end of 2022, IDW started to release a new Star Trek comic that featured a lot of notable characters from the franchise with Captain Sisko being the lead. It even has a sister series called Star Trek: Defiant which features a few other popular characters. Since Trek continuity is pretty busy these days, they had it take place a couple of years after the end of DS9 and before Star Trek: Nemesis. “Godshock” contains the first 6 issues of the series. It’s being written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing who I don’t know too much about. The artwork is being done by a few like Ramon Rosanas, Oleg Chudakov, Joe Eisma, and Erik Tamayo. So, what happens when someone is killing “gods?”

 

Star Trek: Godshock

Writers: Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing

Artists: Ramon Rosanas, Oleg Chudakov, Joe Eisma, and Erik Tamayo

Colors: Lee Loughridge

Letters: Clayton Cowles

 

Tales from the Trade! - Godzilla: The Half-Century War

Well,  this year is coming to an end quick. While I could say good riddance, this year hasn’t actually been as bad as it has been for others. Yes, it wasn’t a good year, but I can also look at the good that’s happened. One of those not-so-good things was that the new Godzilla movie getting pushed back into 2021. At least the WB may be releasing it on HBOMax, which was something that unfortunately needed to happen with COVID still going on. Which reminds me… I was in quarantine. I think my trip to the dentist last week did it. Thankfully, my quarantine has ended.

Anyway, onto the subject of Godzilla. I haven’t really read much of the G-Man in the comics. IDW has been producing comics for years now, but I’ve only read a couple here and there. I think one of them had Godzilla face the Greek Pantheon or something… yeah, I’ll have to search the bins for that. Today’s review is actually one that I ran into on a podcast some years ago. I want to say it was “Hey, Kids! Comics”, but I really don’t remember what podcast it was. All I know is that the review impressed me because I eventually added Godzilla: The Half-Century War, to my collection.

Half-Century War is an oddity with its concept. James Stokoe provided both the story and artwork for this 5-issue miniseries. It was published by IDW in 2013. Stokoe apparently got in with IDW thanks to Godzilla, and he’s also worked on a story called Godzilla in Hell. Yes, Godzilla goes to Hell at some point in the comics… you’d think running into Destroyah would be enough, but nah. The colors were done by Heather Beckel, and editing was done by Bob Curnrow, someone who I’ve ran into with the IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.

Tales from the $3.99 Cent Bin! - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: "City Fall"

I knew it was time to get back to the TMNT in one form or another. I have to say that I haven’t been keeping up with the series which is still going by the way. My interest waned in it and $3.99 per issue is still a lot especially if you’re getting other stuff. I might need to make that price rant one day… Oh well!  Maybe I’ll catch up and see how the heck Splinter ended up leading the Foot Clan. For now, I’ll stick to what I got.

“City Fall” was a seven-part story that went through Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #22-#28. It was pretty much the big storyline that most stuff in the series had been building to. Even some of the other mini-series played into building this up like The Secret History of the Foot Clan. Some of their micro-series even tied into the storyline by expanding on certain characters. Tom Waltz, Bobby Curnow, and Kevin Eastman handled the story for the arc. The art was primarily done by Mateus Santolouco, the artist who did the Secret History of the Foot mini. Dan Duncan, Ross Campbell , Andy Khun, Ben Bates, Charles Paul Wilson III, and even Kevin Eastman do a couple of pages throughout the arc. So, read about how the Turtles get put through the wringer.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #22-28 - "City Fall"

Story: Tom Waltz and Kevin Eastman

Art: Mateus Santolouco, Dan Duncan, Ross Campbell Andy Khun, Ben Bates, Kevin Eastman, and Charles Paul Wilson III

Colors: Rhonda Patterson

Letters: Shawn Lee and Tom B. Long

Editor: Bobby Curnow